The News Journal

Projected to last only days, the first crewed test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft with two astronauts onboard faces uncertainty with no exact return to Earth announced. Boeing Starliner with Sunita Williams NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich has said that the US space agency is considering extending the duration of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days, CNN reported. Officials have repeatedly hinted that the Starliner, which faced issues with helium leaks and thruster outages heading to the International Space Station in early June, will be safe to bring astronauts including indian-origin Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Butch Wilmore home. On Friday, Stich said that NASA is considering extending the maximum length of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days and there is no firm return date on the horizon, according to CNN report. Addressing a briefing on Friday, the NASA official said, "We're just looking at the timeline to...

The UAE’s first two astronauts have graduated from Nasa’s basic training programme and are now eligible for space missions led by the US space agency. Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi were awarded their Nasa astronaut pins on Sunday, which signify that they are ready for missions to the International Space Station and beyond. Both of them will now begin training for the Nasa-SpaceX Crew-6 mission, a six-month science trip to the orbiting laboratory. Only one of them will fly to space, while the other will be the back-up astronaut for the mission. “It's an exceptional feeling when 20 months of assiduous training pays off,” said Dr Al Neyadi, a former IT professional who will likely be the astronaut to fly on the upcoming space mission. “A big thank you to MBRSC (Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the Nasa team, my colleague Hazzaa and everyone who supported me in being awarded the Nasa astronaut pin. “Our training continues towards achieving bigger goals.” Maj Al Mansouri, a...